Zurich Kloten

Since Zurich Airport changed the process of passing security, the security check for connecting passengers was done in Terminal E. Therefore the passengers who were in transit to other flights had to take other directions than those who had Zurich as final destination or to leave the airport, i.e. for a meeting. There are signs for transit passengers and we followed those signs and were lucky as the other early morning arrivals had not yet arrived or were at other gates and therefore the passengers used another checkpoint. There were not many passengers in front of us and we could pass security quite quickly. While passing the checkpoint we noticed that those of our group who flew in Economy also had reached the checkpoint.

The most Economy Flyers had kept up with us while we were waiting for the train from the midfield terminal to the main terminal.

Immigration was also fast as no one was queuing. After immigration we waited for those who were too late to be in the first train. After a quick farewell, it was for some of us time to catch the connecting flights to Hannover and Munich, while we had a little bit more time.

Nevertheless I skipped a visit in the lounge as the lounge was quite busy and we had not that much time. So we proceeded to gate A 65 where our flight was scheduled to depart. Boarding had not started yet, but the agent made the announcement that boarding was about to begin in a couple of minutes. Nothing too unusual on a Monday morning and the passengers looked like the usual business travelers heading for meetings in the Düsseldorf region, there majority of the passengers in the gate area wore jacket and tie. Boarding started slightly delayed with Business Class Passengers, Hon Circle Members, Senators and Star Gold passengers and I used this opportunity to board the plane. The agent at the gate notified me that only Business Class was boarding of which I replied that she had also invited Senators to board. She looked on my boarding pass and I could board.

03 June 2013
ZRH - DUS
[Zurich Kloten – Dusseldorf International]
LX1016 (Swiss International Airlines); Airbus A 321 (HB-IOM / ‘Biel / Bienne’)
Gate A 65
07:25 – 08:40 [effective 07:31 – 08:52]
Economy Class
Seat 12 C

This flight was scheduled to be an Airbus A 320, where row 12 is an exit row. Unfortunately row 12 of an Airbus A 321 is not an exit row, so it was the usual row without more legroom. The plane was full and all seats were taken.

The plane of the flight to Dusseldorf was quite new, delivered from the Airbus Factory in Hamburg-Finkenwerder (airport code is XFW) to Zurich on December 14, 2010 with 200 seats in a one class configuration. Off course Swiss offers a Business Class, but the only difference is a free middle seat. The usual curtain divided the cabin into a Business Class and Economy Class Cabin; there is no different seat pitch.

Our plane was equipped with two CFM 56-5B1 engines by CFMI.

The safety video was shown while we were still at the gate. At 07:31 we were pushed back and taxied to our runway. We took off at 07:45 for our short 60 minutes flight to Düsseldorf.

After the seat belt signs were switched off, the crew began the service.

A croissant was offered and a beverage service was done. I skipped the croissant but had a coffee. Service was okay, nothing unusual and the service on such a short flight is not easy for the crew. The just finished the beverage service as we were about to begin our final descend into Düsseldorf Airport. The trash and item from the beverage service were collected during our descend to Düsseldorf Airport. A couple of minutes earlier the captain gave us an update of the weather situation in Düsseldorf, which was not very warm.

We touched down at 08:45, one hour after we left Switzerland, and taxied for our gate, where we arrived at 08:52. Deboarding took a couple of minutes. After a quick good bye to my colleague, who had checked luggage and therefore had to go to the luggage belt in the arrival level, I hurried up to catch the skytrain to the airport station where my train to Duisburg was arriving in about 15 minutes. That was easy to manage if nothing unforeseen happened …

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Conclusion